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Intra-articular injections of platelet-rich plasma in patients with knee pain of articular cartilage origin (degenerative chondropathy and early OA)

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Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been used as an alternative to non-operative treatments for increasing the rate of cure in bone and soft-tissue regeneration, although there are very few clinical studies regarding the treatment of articular cartilage damage. Therefore, our study proposes non-surgical intervention for patients with articular cartilage damage and who are experiencing knee pain caused by this damage. This study was conducted as a single medical center. It was an uncontrolled, prospective clinical trial, and the study subjects included 44 patients who were suffering from early osteoarthritis and degenerative chondropathy; they were between 18 and 65 years of age and were included in the study irregardless their sex. PRP was injected twice intraarticulary within an interval of four weeks. The pain scores and functional scores were compared two months, four months, and six months following the second injection was completed, using the VAS, the Lysholm knee scale, and the Cincinnati knee rating system. There were no complications related to the PRP injection. The pain experienced by the study patients two months after the PRP injection was reduced compared to the pain felt before the injection, and the reduction in pain after four and six months compared to the pain experienced two months after the PRP injection was statistically significant. From a functional viewpoint, there was a statistically significant improvement in their pain during the entire follow-up period. Our study results suggest that PRP injection is an effective and safe treatment for the management of early osteoarthritis and degenerative chondropathy, as seen in this clinical trial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    Kyo Sun Lee, Seok Jung Kim, Nam Yong Choi & Gi Beom Park

  2. Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, 30 Pembroke Court, Chatham Maritime, Kent, ME4 4UF, UK

    Asode Ananthram Shetty

  3. Department of Nursing Education & Administration, Uijongbu St. Mary’s hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    Young Ju Kim

  4. Department of Plastic Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

    Young Joon Jun

Authors
  1. Kyo Sun Lee
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  2. Asode Ananthram Shetty
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  3. Seok Jung Kim
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  4. Young Ju Kim
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  5. Young Joon Jun
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  6. Nam Yong Choi
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  7. Gi Beom Park
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Correspondence to Seok Jung Kim.

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Lee, K.S., Shetty, A.A., Kim, S.J. et al. Intra-articular injections of platelet-rich plasma in patients with knee pain of articular cartilage origin (degenerative chondropathy and early OA). Tissue Eng Regen Med 10, 329–335 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-013-1101-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-013-1101-1

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